The Rafel Lucea Global Experiential Fund

The Rafel Lucea Global Experiential Fund is a memorial fund in honor of beloved GWSB professor Rafel Lucea, who passed away in July 2015 after a two-year battle with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) brain cancer. This fund supports students’ global experiential programs, such as GWSB’s Global MBA Consulting Abroad Program (CAP), which provides Global MBA students the opportunity to work on a professional consultancy project abroad.

Rafel loved this program, and was one of the first faculty members to lead a Consulting Abroad Project, first to Spain in 2009 and later to Peru in 2012. He poured himself into each session that he led and was known for pushing students beyond their comfort zones to help them develop personally and professionally.

This fund provides stipends to MBA students who display exceptional leadership qualities and a commitment to community. It helps to defray their out-of-pocket expenses, including travel and accommodation fees, on the required MBA CAP and other graduate international study programs. These stipends enable students to take advantage of these potentially life-changing experiences. This kind of program is integral to the GWSB MBA experience, and some form of a curricular requirement will continue for the long-term.

In conjunction with the greater GW community, the School of Business, and the Lucea family, the Rafel Lucea Global Experiential Fund was established to continue Rafel’s work on international business education. Our aim is to raise enough funding to ensure an enduring scholarship.

You can help us get closer to achieving our goal. Please consider making a gift to the fund by making a gift online, and typing “Rafel Lucea Global Experiential Fund” in the “other” field.

As a community, we can honor Rafel’s memory and provide GWSB students the best possible global experiences. We hope to do our part to bring some of the brightest and most globally minded young professionals to the world of business — for years to come.